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Buddhadeb sworn in Bengal CM

     Kolkata: Veteran leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was today sworn in at the Raj Bhavan by Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive term. The seventh Left Front ministry to be sworn in comprises 44 ministers. There are 17 new faces. The supporter CPI(M) had 14, and the All India Forward Bloc three, Left Front chairman and CPI(M) leader Biman Bose yesterday said this at a press conference. Even the sixth LF government had 44 ministers. Bhattacharjee, also committed to industrialisation and reforms will hold charge of food processing and horticulture, development and planning. The planning and development portfolios were held by Nirupam Sen, while food processing and horticulture was held by Sailen Sarkar. Sen, however, retained his industry, commerce, public undertaking and industrial reconstructions portfolios and Sarkar will be the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Mrinal Banerjee has been given the Labour portfolio along with Power. Debesh Das gets IT portfolio and Partha Dey gets Secondary Education.

     Gopalkrishna Gandhi on May 15 invited Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to form the new Council of ministers after the Chief Minister tendered his resignation and formally staked claim to form the new government in the State. The (CPI-M)-led Left Front stormed back to power in West Bengal for the seventh consecutive term in the Assembly elections. People present on the occasion included, Sourav Ganguly, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, social activist Teesta Setalvad, agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, Ratan Tata, Ambani brothers and IT giants like Narayana Murthy of Infosys and Azim Premji of Wipro and many others. A joint press conference, by Buddhadeb and Ratan Tata, would be held at 6:00 p.m. today. Tata is expected to announce investments in Bengal in the automobile sector.

Rangasamy sworn in as Pondy CM

     Pondicherry: N Rangasamy was sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Pondicherry by Lt.Governor M M Lakhera without pomp and show before the Rajnivas at 9:10 a.m. today. This is the second tenure of Rangasamy in succession. The 10-member Congress legislature party on May 13 had elected Rangasamy, the choice of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, leader of the group. The same day he met Lakhera and staked his claim to form the government. Under the Union Territory Act, the President has to appoint the Chief Minister and council of ministers. Earlier, Pondicherry Chief Secretary C S Khairwal read out the Presidential notification appointing Rangasamy as the chief minister of the Union Territory. It is Rangasamy's second time as chief minister. The Congress party which has 10 members on its own in the 30- member Assembly is forming the minority ministry with the outside support of allies DMK, which has having 7 members, PMK with two members and the Communist Party of India with one member. Rangasamy had taken over the chief ministership for the first time in October 2001 from P Shanmugham, who had failed to fulfil the constitutional obligation of getting himself elected to the Assembly within six months of assuming office.

VS Achuthanandan takes over as Kerala CM

      Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran VS Achuthanandan of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was on Thursday sworn in as Kerala Chief Minister. Governor R L Bhatia administered the oath of office and secrecy to Achuthanandan. The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Central Stadium behind the Secretariat. This is the first time when the swearing-in ceremony of a new government in Kerala was held outside the premises of Raj Bhavan. A huge crowd turned up to witness the ceremony. Achuthanandan will be heading a 19-member CPI-M led Left Democratic Front (LDF) ministry. In the Ministry the CPI-M will have 12 nominees, including the Chief Minister, the CPI four and Janata Dal(S), the RSP and Kerala Congress one each. Achuthanandan had won from Malampuzha in Palakkad by a margin of over 20,000 votes. Achuthanandan on Wednesday met Bhatia and staked claim to form the Government in Kerala. The members unanimously elected Achuthanandan as the CPI-M legislature party leader at the meeting of party MLAs held yesterday. Achuthanandan had handed over letters from all the LDF constituents showing support of 98 members in the 140 member Kerala Legislative Assembly to stake claim to form the government. The CPI-M led LDF emerged with maximum seats in Kerala Assembly elections. In the landslide victory, LDF won 98 seats in 140 members Kerala Assembly.